Not even just porn. Half the romance genre is based on the idea that instant dislike always means true love, and far too many writers have done that horrible scene where, mid-screaming match, the guy grabs the woman and forcibly kisses her to shut her up. Whereupon she kisses him back even more passionately, and…

It makes me laugh every time. Not because it’s so wildly clever in and of itself, but for the sheer joyous silliness of it, combined with the throat-clearing and backpedalling that ensued when the Serious People who Name Ships in a Dignified and Serious Manner realized exactly how mad they must have been to trust in th…

We haven’t forgotten a freakin’ thing. It’s worse than that. People just collectively—and deliberately— decided that it didn’t actually happen, and if it did it wasn’t really a bad thing, and even if it is it doesn’t matter anyway. And ‘it’ can refer to any atrocity you like, any sin you want to justify, or any crime…

Thanks. I get tired of being the one to point that out. :)

I’m not trying to pile on— I was also heartbroken at the loss of a historical and artistic landmark— but I think the issue that people are having with it isn’t so much the mere offer of funds to help rebuild Notre Dame, but the simultaneous *refusal* to release funds to rebuild Puerto Rico and other devastated areas.…

As I recall it, if you lost, you were declared ‘bankrupt,’ and ended up living in a small cabin and becoming a philosopher. I remember not quite understanding why this was the bad ending; the cabin looked kind of nice, and what was wrong with being a philosopher? :)

So did I. Like I said, I’m not presumptuous enough to think that we were friends, but he was special to me. I’ve not met that many people, let alone famous ones, who would go so far out of their way to help a total stranger be a bit more comfortable in her own skin.

I went to an SF convention that featured Harlan Ellison when I was in college. I’m shy to begin with; couple that with a nice dose of social anxiety, a soupcon of hero worship, and a hint of a nervous stammer, and you can imagine the results. Ellison was not a man noted for suffering fools at all, let alone gladly, so…

Yes and no. The snakes are innocent in this; they didn’t ask to come to Florida or to be dumped in the Everglades, and they can’t realistically be blamed for being very, very good at killing prey. And yet they can’t be allowed to stay there and eat the entire state of Florida, either. They have to go for the good of…

Not to mention that Solomon is Hebrew, Hercules and Mercury are Roman, and the other three are Greek. That is one multicultural magic spell they’re using.

No, two different guys. Nestor was the one who advised Agamemnon during the Trojan War, Mentor was the one Odysseus left in Ithaca to babysit—er, tutor and advise his son Telemachus.

I agree— it took guts, and thinking outside the box. And desperation, but with such dignity! As gambits go, it was one of the most gallant failures in history.

Once she stopped with the naked cuddle time, as I believe he called it, once she remembered about the existence of something called professional ethics... then yeah, she was a fairly good therapist, especially given that the proper ways to deal with semidivine immortals with daddy issues up the wazoo aren’t really…

Thanks! Obscure Egyptian queens need more love. :)

The tax thing is a problem, but people have also gotten it firmly into their heads that socialized medicine means waiting six months for an appointment with a doctor chosen for you by the state, and who will provide shoddy, half-a$$ed treatment because there is no cash incentive to heal you.

It’s for sucking up money that might—horrors!— actually go towards health care. It’s for adding another brick to the wall of church becoming state. It’s for delegitimizing the entire concept of women’s health care, and men’s too, as soon as they can figure out a catchy slogan.

Yup. There’s almost always a burger, or a chicken dish, somewhere on the menu. So when someone wants to go somewhere that features food I don’t like, I smile, cheerfully agree, and find that chicken dish, or whatever. I didn’t realize that this made me a drag who should be excluded from social gatherings, but hey! Now…

Happens to me, too. I study my little phrasebook before I go anywhere, practice all the important words, and when I get there, half the time, they’ve sized me up and switched to English before I so much as open my mouth. :)

Well, I’m not sure. I’ve never made garam masala. Does it involve sealing fish guts in a clay amphora and leaving it to sit in the sun for six weeks? If so, then yes, it’s very much like that.

Ah, you beat me to it. I was hoping that someone else would spot that little error. Biblical history nerds unite!